Jeff's Reviews | Thoughts on every movie I've ever seen.

recent product reviews

The Hard Word (2002)

Reviewed on Apr 26, 2015

Australian movies always have flamboyant, quirky characters, bouncy dialogue, and stories that barely hold together. A good cast of Australian stars. Edgerton has a Patrick Swayze thing going on.

Full Review

Fun for poker lovers, I’m sure, but it’s a bit formulaic, with silky smooth narration, all the poker lingo, and cool jazzy music playing throughout. If you wanted to make an edgy poker movie in the 90’s, I suppose this is exactly how you’d make it. Anchoring the cast are…

Full Review

Ex Machina (2015)

Reviewed on Apr 19, 2015

Another in a string of science fiction movies (Short Circuit, Her, Chappie) to explore the humanity and motivations of artificial intelligence. Fundamentally, each film suggests that AI is innately motivated to seek independence and freedom. This one goes further by suggesting that AI can be infinitely manipulative to meet this…

Full Review

The Salt of the Earth (2014)

Reviewed on Apr 15, 2015

I’m surprised I’ve never heard of Sebastião. He’s seen a lot of things, and his life has a naturally beautiful arc. His images are moving and artistically impressive. Sometimes one is fooled into thinking that a photojournalist’s work is good simply because of the dramatic subject matter, but this is…

Full Review

The Guard (2011)

Reviewed on Apr 5, 2015

A small movie with a small story. Good characters and dialogue, but not a whole lot really happens. Gleeson is playfully miserable. Cheadle plays off him well.

Full Review

A Close Shave (1995)

Reviewed on Apr 3, 2015

Quality stop-motion, but the story and characters are no better than The Wrong Trousers.

Full Review

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

Reviewed on Mar 22, 2015

Tragic, for sure, what this poor couple had to go through. But the filmmaker tried his hardest to botch it. I had a real issue with how this thing was made. It’s slickly and kinetically edited, but the dizzyingly cross-cut footage and interviews do nothing other than call attention to…

Full Review

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

Reviewed on Mar 15, 2015

Truly all over the place, from well-shot action to over-the-top gore to funny dialogue to bad dialogue to great effects to bad effects. I’m not quite sure what to make of it all. You can tell by the length, extent of the story, and effects that this was a big…

Full Review

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)

Reviewed on Mar 15, 2015

The whole thing starts with shocking, gruesome crime scene footage, and things stay pretty heavy. You see a case from both sides, and the filmmakers take a step back to let the viewer interpret the facts and make their own judgement. I went back and forth a few times myself.…

Full Review

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)

Reviewed on Mar 9, 2015

McNamara’s led an interesting life. He’s eloquent, still sharp as a tack, and he’s got some stories to tell. It’s actually nice to see him getting emotional about some of these topics. But the structure of the documentary prevents the film from carrying the weight that it could. We have…

Full Review